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IMPACT OF BLOGS ON THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
IN THE COSMETICS FIELD
By Tiphaine DUMARTINET
Marketing Management & Communication Program
Toulouse Business School, FRANCE
+00 33 6 74 47 11 80
ABSTRACT
By this study the objective is to demonstrate that Internet users have become an indisputable leverage in the
communication for beauty and healthcare companies. We will particularly focus our research on blogs that could
benefit to the products development. Companies in order to get closer to their consumers implement strategies
with the help of web agencies.
Key words: web 2.0, bloggers, user-generated content, co-creation, product development, interactive agencies,
cosmetics
INTRODUCTION
The evolution of the Internet over the last ten years has led to the emergence of what we call web 2.0. With the
introduction of the Internet into our daily life, economic and social paradigms have evolved and new tools to
communicate online have emerged which have radically changed our way of thinking towards certain notions
such as community and business. Further, this fundamental change has obliged companies and searchers to
rethink the role and the tools of traditional marketing in order to adapt it to web 2.0. In this paper, we will focus
on the role of blogs that have now evolved past simple personal blogging and which are now providing a major
source of information that could serve companies (marketing interests? You need to say how it can serve
companies).
Indeed, information in blog threads can be positive or negative, flattering or outrageous, thus companies
definitely need to take into consideration a new player that is emitting opinions and spreading it, the consumer.
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However does a method exist to benefit from uncontrollable information on blogs? How can companies use
blogs to help the Research & Development Department improve the existing products and develop new ideas?
The aim of this paper is to focus on how the marketing department of a company can utilise the comments,
opinions, and suggestions made by the users of the Internet on blogs. In order to confirm or not this hypothesis,
some actors will be interviewed to prove that analysing blogs can be an effective part of the communication
strategy of a company. Firstly, it is necessary to demonstrate that consumers are delivering their opinions on
blogs and that companies are able to collect and gather this information. To know more about the organization of
blogs in marketing strategies, blog experts will answer the question, “Is there an existing of relationship between
‘blogs-consumer-company’ or not?” Finally, companies acting operating in the cosmetic products market will
give us some clues to prove concretely, firstly, if the companies are convinced, and secondly, if they are using
this method of market watch.
This article can definitely be useful for companies in the healthcare and beauty industries; because it will reveal
if it is relevant for a company to give importance to the analysis of blogs and if human and financial resources
should be allocated to the method.
Many business strategies aim to gain market share and to succeed in foreign markets that long ago are no longer
confined to the geographical borders. Market access, in our case, the French market is increasingly difficult due
to the internationalization of markets, brands of the hexagon must vigorously seek more visibility and distinguish
themselves from their competitors by their product offering. One thing is certain; innovation is the key to staying
competitive.
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I/ PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN THE HEART
OF THE COMPANY’S STRATEGY
1.1 The importance of product development in the cosmetic industry
Many are business strategies to gain market share and to succeed in markets that long ago are no longer confined
to our borders. Market access, in our case the French market is increasingly difficult because of the
internationalization of markets, brands of the hexagon must absolutely look for more visibility and distinguish
themselves from their competitors by offering products. One thing is certain: innovation is the key input to stay
competitive.
Before putting together the following concepts, "consumers, blogs and products", we will first go back on the
concept of innovation and product development. We will ask several questions that will enable us to understand
that innovation in this sector is essential to business survival. We will study what are the main currents of
thought that address the marketing problems of business innovation.
1.1.1 What is innovation?
First, what exactly are we talking about? The French Academy defines innovation as the act of introducing
something new to use, custom, belief, whether scientific or philosophical system etc. Industrial innovation is
broad; it can be in art, design, method, use, etc.
Regarding Marketing for Robert Leduc1 on innovation, "technically new is not necessarily innovation, the
novelty must be clear and estimated by the buyer. As a result of technical innovation is not necessarily
contributing to a successful project. Only the user can judge whether a product is innovative or not, the producer
is a spectator and cannot impose anything. Francis H. Courvoisier and Fabienne A. Courvoisier explain that
innovation is, " based on perceived value and differentiation from the competition." In their book, Marketing
Pratique: Core Concepts and Tools, they conclude that the novelty is "primarily a difference that the prospective
buyer enters easily and asked to belong to the habits of consumption." Now that we are aware of the complexity
in determining whether the main characteristics of a product are innovative or not, and that bias is often a reason
for the failures of commercial launches we will now try to understand why innovation policy is so important for
the future of our health and beauty companies.
1.1.2 why are companies involved in innovative projects?
What is expected from the implementation of an innovation? First, growth and innovation are undeniably linked.
Research shows that innovation makes a direct contribution to the competitiveness of enterprises
Companies across all industries are faced with a dilemma: in the book Mercator, their products follow a natural
life cycle and eventually die when a new product, generally more efficient and attractive to the consumer appears
1 Leduc Robert (1987), L’avantage compétitif : comment devancer ses concurrents et maintenir son avance, Dunod, Paris
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on the market. If companies do not innovate, they are unable to survive in a market that is ever evolving
constantly becoming more competitive.
However, innovation is also very risky; launches of new products often end in failure. Only 20%2 of launches of
new consumer products are successful; the match between innovations is tight and the key to success lies in a
total investment of various company departments, as well as careful planning. Above all, the company must be
able to adapt to changing consumer tastes, technology and to face competitors’ strategies.
More precisely, why should companies innovate? That is what Francis H. Courvoisier and Fabienne A.
Courvoisier explain in the book cited above:
1. To begin, a company must treat its customers by offering in its products the best of its experience and
knowhow. Attracting consumers is the top priority of a business, re-seduce the consumer, satisfy his/her
need for variety and push to diversify its purchase. Reaching a clientele that was not consuming our
products for different reasons.
2. Changes in the market - it is important not to miss it, because the risk is that competitors launch a product
that meets the needs of consumers before us and make a commercial success of this attack.
3. Expanding the territory of brand to new departments while remaining consistent with its image.
4. Competition is a driving force sufficient to "boost" the marketing teams and R & D to look for new ideas.
When a competitor launches a new product, it must react, or otherwise, to take the lead over its
competitors, it must innovate.
5. Finally, creating new products naturally divides the long-term risks and helps to protect profits by
balancing the portfolio of products.
As we have said previously the success rate is very low. How to explain such a large failure rate for product
launch? The reasons are multiple and generally come from poor coordination and planning marketing.
Francis H. Courvoisier and Fabienne A. Courvoisier reveal what are the main difficulties encountered:
1. Technical Problems
First the industry may have invested heavily in R & D development and costs turn out to be higher than forecast.
In this case, the product is not cost effective and quickly rushed to the door of exit. One might also note that all
delays in product development upstream (R & D, production, trouble-produce, design, SAC) result in extra costs
that penalize other budget expenses such as advertising and communication.
2. Problem market
Market size: the risk of overestimating the number of potential consumers. On the other hand, a company can
react to a competitor launching a new product on the market and enter the market too late or offer a product that
does not offer added value as opposed to competing products. Take into account the "me too" on a market niche
there is not always room for two. The final product specifications may not meet a real consumer need. It may
also be poorly designed (quality questionable), lacking practicality, answering only superfluous needs of
2 Philip Kotler, Les clés du Marketing, « Innovation », p.74, Village Mondial
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consumers. The marketing mix is crucial; a positioning failure, a poorly priced product, and low visibility on the
shelves or an inconsistent plan of communication can often be a reason for failure.
3. Management Issues
The difficulty is primarily managerial, lack of commitment and support from management and lack of synergy
between departments cause problems, especially to share information so that projects are seen and understood as
well in their entirety as in their details. Product development projects can also be prioritized badly, too many
projects launched in a short period of time.
Concerning the beauty sector, every year TNS-MI studies changes in the market for beauty products, analyzing
the major campaigns of brands of the most active users of cosmetics (Europe, USA, Japan, China, India, and
Russia). The goal is to obtain a complete view, "by combining a review of emerging trends with a semiotic
analysis, detailed design of segmented messages, and a prospective analysis of the specificity of the beauty in
each country. The study focuses on the editorial context of women's magazines and multi media campaigns for
luxury brands, health and food products (press, internet, radio, television and cinema) analyzed from the
database3”.
Françoise Hernaez Fourrier adds that 2008 has been the year of “massive renewal strategies” of power brands
worldwide. Brands are operating in an increasingly competitive environment. This renewal can certainly be
explained by increased competitiveness in the growing market for beauty and well-being: competition in a
difficult economic climate, competition with surgery and injections for the results and competition with
imaginary welfare natural and bio developed in other sectors.
1.2 The different sources of ideas
Companies must constantly monitor changes in their market, through studies and observations. When they seek
to innovate, they have recourse to ad hoc studies to understand the behaviors and attitudes towards their
products. Coming back to the sources of ideas that favor companies to improve their existing products or launch
new ones.
They include the traditional methods of market research: group meetings, face-to-face interviews, questionnaires
to know the barriers to use of certain products, etc. Through these means we can identify areas of improvement
possible and desired by customers.
In this sector, the cult of performance is pervasive in all segments. “Effectiveness is measured everywhere and
radicalized”i. Currently we assist in the declination of different types of cosmetology:
The “Greedy” cosmetology: nourish the skin with a cream or a creamy yogurt (The Time)
The “Playful” cosmetology: take care of oneself without taking seriously
The “Medical” cosmetology: the beauty doctors in white coats and their magic potions (thanks to scientific
research) (Kielh's) Cosmetology Technology (Clarins Expertise 3)
3 La Revue des marques – n°66 – avril 2009, « La beauté une idée profondément culturelle » page. 20
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Type of study
Objectives Means Limits
Studies of practice and
attitude
Describe the large,
medium and small
consumers
From questionnaires,
interviews
Too descriptive, not
explanatory enough
behavior
Results often unreliable
Few operational to identify
opportunities to develop
new products
Ethnographies Study of human
groups
Cross compliance
behavior with the
speech to identify
the elements of the
domain of the
unspoken, the
ineffable, the
imaginary
Observation
Two types:
the "participative
observation" and the
"non-participative
observation"
Oriented towards
consumption and use
rather than towards the
purchase process.
Notebooks
consumption
Into it, consumers
explain their
consumption
behavior of a
particular product
type.
Monitoring trends Studies with clients
ahead of their
market (lead-users)
Mainly concerned sectors:
fashion, clothing,
telephone,
1.3 Steps: make your product evolve
It is the marketing department that directs the product strategy (existing and new launched products range).
There is a simple tool that can help companies: the Matrix Ansoff was published in the Harvard Business
Review in 1957 in an article entitled "Strategies for diversification". It is used by industry to guide them in their
growth objectives. This is a 2 x 2 matrix, which guides planners to develop options. To summarize, the Ansoff
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matrix offers strategic choices to achieve those goals. This matrix is divided into four main categories: market
penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
Market development requires the development of new market segments (export, new uses of the product).
Finally, the development of the product implies innovations to it (processing, technical improvements,
modifications etc.).
Diversification involves an offer composed of new products on new markets. Each growth strategy involves a
different level of risk. The risk increases in proportion to the degree of change.
Hans Igor Ansoff’s matrix to make evolve the market
Novelty increase though technology
Current technology Improved technology New technology
Current market NEW FORMULA REPLACEMENT
Reinforce the
market COMMERCIA-
LIZATION IMPROVEMENT
Novelty
increase in a
market
perspective
New market
NEW USE DIVERSIFICATION
International beauty product development
At a time where economies are interrelated and companies are global, brands must choose between two types of
marketing, standardized or adapted. These days, the objective is to send a single message to all consumers of a
product.
However, we realize that the concept of beauty is not the same for consumers all around the world. According to
a study conducted under the direction of Nathalie Ternisien and Nadege of Poulpiquet (2009)4, which asked four
simple questions about the subject’s vision of feminine beauty, the results are very interesting. The vast majority
of women surveyed resume major fundamental beauty, but their responses differ on "customs, practices,
keywords etc.” For instance, in China the reference to the "four beauties" shows the importance of knowledge
and intelligence that Chinese women bear in mind, in their evaluation of beauty.
The question is, should we speak the "the consumer’s language"? For this very reason we have to gain a deep
insight of the customers in all countries in which we want to launch a brand or product.
4 La Revue des marques – n°66 – avril 2009, « La beauté, une idée profondément culturelle » page. 23
8
From now, we arrive at the heart of our subject. Blogs make researchers, specialists and common bloggers talk
and debate on a product’s functions, its future, and above all its control.
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II/ THE PHENOMENON OF BLOGS
Blogs are not a recent discovery; actually these personal diaries, these “logbooks” on the web have appeared
around the beginning of the 21st century as one of the activities of web 2.0. The first form of blogs was personal
journals online, which allowed Internet users to write about themselves, their hobbies and what they were
interested in.
Web 2.0
We cannot talk about blogs without explaining in which context they come from. Everyday, there are articles
about the Web 2.0, what is this innovation and what is the link with blogs? Indeed, what is fundamental is to
come back to the evolution of the Internet.
The word “Web 2.0” has been used for the first time by O’Reuilly Media in 2004 in order to describe the
phenomenon of people who started to contribute to the content of the Internet.
This label counts numerous terms and different activities:
- Social networks
- Forums
- Websites for price comparisons
- Chats
- Blogs
Now, thanks to improved software, the information is based on what people say, this is the major change we will
talk about a bit later; but before what is a blog and what can be relevant in it?
2.1 Blog’s description
What is a blog? It is a platform archiving articles, comments, hyperlinks, from the creator of the blog and the
participation from other bloggers (tagging etc.).
2.1.1 Blogs typology: personal & thematic
A blog could be seen as a vitrine, in the way that it is evolving all the time, through generated content; secondly,
if the content and the form are pleasant, people will enter in and get in contact with the creator to exchange
information.
Several kinds of blogs exist. There are personal blogs, where individuals (mainly teenagers and young people)
communicate their news and their findings from the Internet (websites, videos etc.). This is not the most
interesting type of blog for us because the information is not really specialized and could be limited or too
irregular.
It is more relevant to focus on thematic blogs. These blogs are well defined through a subject, such as mobile
operators, flowers, books, or beauty for instance. These blogs allow people to find quite easily real information
through tags.
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2.1.2 Blogs’ appearance
The creation and the use of blogs are very simple, everybody can access to this tool to communicate with others.
To create a blog you just need to use a web application or you download a programme. The use is very easy
because the interface is most of the time made of the same elements: it has a homepage (showing the most recent
posts), a sort of archive (gives access to older posts) and the presentation of the author.
The next scheme represents a blog website5:
Typically bloggers transmit short messages; we note that the content and its form are quite free and up to the
individual decision of the author. The participation can be in the form of messages to answer to a new post, or to
a comment of a blogger, or of videos links that will send the blogger clicking on it on a new web page
(YouTube, DailyMotion etc.), by answering to a study etc.
2.1.3 Information & Bloggers
Different types of activities on a blog
We have to be careful concerning the importance of a particular blogs’ information and whether the bloggers
really has the intention consciously or not to bring up new ideas on the web. The number of these participants is
considered to be small. In reality, each blogger is not a creator of added value. “There is a significant difference
between the number of users that only view content that was generated by others and those who also actively
participate”.6
The analysis made by the Statistical Journal puts forward the following true statement:
- “The number of users just viewing the content is high.
- The number of users just commenting and rating is a bit lower,
5 Source: Nakajima, S, J Tatemura, Y Hino and K Tanaka (2005). Discovering important bloggers based on analyzing blog threads. In Proc. Of the WWW 2005 2nd Annual Workshop on the Web logging Ecosystem: Aggregation, Analysis and Dynamics. Chiba: Japan 6 Statistical Journal of the IA05 25 (2008)
11
- The number of users publishing new content is the lowest”.
To make it clear, information found on blogs can be very relevant and useful for a company, but it is not easy to
find many authors providing it.
In 2006, Jakob Nielsen has gone further and stated the rule "90-9-1":
- 90% of users of community sites would read it and kept it passively, never contributing,
- 9% contribute from time to time,
- And only 1% would participate very often.
Rubicon Consulting’s web practice team conducted a broad survey of US web users to understand better how
people in the US use the web, with a special focus on web communities and its effect on consumers. The results
of this study confirms the previous theories we enounced before “it’s true, enthusiasts do dominate online
conversation”. Most Internet users sit back and just “consume” information. They just inject comments
sometime in the conversations driven by real information producers.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html
The blogosphere cannot be considered as a gush of good ideas; we have then to identify and find out the
diamonds, which we will see later, are called “lead users”.
A Japanese work paper characterizes bloggers based on their roles in previous blog threads. To understand in
which context this paper comes, we have to consider “the blog as a conversation rather than a collection of
archived documents”7. The objective of this paper is to propose a method of discovering important bloggers in
order to “capture hot conversation topics from blogs and deliver them to users in a timely manner”. It defines the
two main “potentially important bloggers”: “agitators” and “summarizers”.
1. Agitator: stimulates discussion. The article shows that if an Agitator publishes an entry, the blog thread
will grow.
7 Nakajima, S, J Tatemura, Y Hino and K Tanaka (2005). Discovering important bloggers based on analyzing blog threads. In Proc. Of the WWW 2005 2nd Annual Workshop on the Weblogging Ecosystem: Aggregation, Analysis and Dynamics. Chiba: Japan
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2. Summarizer: provides entries that summarises a hot blog thread by referring to many other entries.
Theory of the « lead user » - Erik von Hippel
Erik von Hippel worked between 1986 and 1988 on the theory of “lead users”.
Two criteria define these special bloggers:
1. They experienced some needs that most people ignored at that time, and thus can be seen as a “need-
forecasting laboratory”.
2. “They are positioned to benefit notably from innovative solutions”. Once they are identified they can
play a part in the production of new ideas and product concepts.
As well, we should highlight that if a lead user, who is dissatisfied with available products in the market, will try
to find solutions using one way or another to satisfy their needs. This discovery made by von Hippel is very
important for explaining that it is possible and undeniable that some blog’s users are not only commenting about
products but can as well provide new ideas.
2.2. Blogs and companies
Until the emergence of Web 2.0, information was coming only from secured sources and the interaction was
quite limited because of people who could not directly answer and comment on the messages. To illustrate it
Charles Leadbetter, leading thinker on innovation and creativity introduced the Esomar congress in 2006. He
talked about the old times where only newspapers could control publications and the sudden apparition of the
‘citizen-journalist”. Now everybody can produce information and spread it.
2.2.1 Blogs: which kind of information?
Why companies are now starting to realize the growing potential of blogs?
In my opinion, there are two main interests in this technology that cannot be ignored by the head departments:
- The conversations exert a very strong power limitation on their readers and can benefit to the brand,
- The information related to the enterprise and its products collected on blogs, is a good way to have concrete
and genuine feedback from the consumers.
2.2.2 User comments online can drive purchasing decisions.
This part is not crucial in the article but it remains significant if we want to understand the advantage of blogs
watch and why this is so important to monitor what happens online. Effectively, blogs have a certain influence
on the purchasing behavior of online users and potential clients. In spite of low content creation rates, it seems
that web users are directly influenced by online comments and reviews. The study realized by Rubicon
Consulting puts forwards that “personal reviews are far more influential than official reviews posted by a
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website or magazine, or information posted online by a manufacturer”. Therefore we can confirm that the most
frequent contributors (MFC’s) are the influencers.
The study highlights the MFC’s characteristics and they appear to be distinctive from the ordinary Internet user:
- Ethnicity differences;
- MFC’s would be more technically different;
- MFC’s are more likely to be single due to their young age (most are under age 22);
- MFC’s are more likely to be Democrats (in the United States).
However what does interest every company is that the influence of the web varies extremely “according to what
category of product or service the consumer is looking for”.
Decisions on consumer products, vacations and movies would be the most influenced by information spread by
Internet users.
To conclude, we can see that blogs and Internet tools are determining a purchase decision and thus information
retrieved from blogs and the web should be taken seriously.
2.2.3 Product-related knowledge & the company from the consumer's point of view.
When we talk about blogs, we necessarily talk about interaction between individuals. The Internet users are
producing information; the outcome of this exchanged information is the added value of blogs. If we keep a
positive state-of-mind and we consider that blogs are benefiting companies, we should understand that these
pieces of information are useful especially for communication and marketing reasons. By analyzing blogs we
will be able:
a) To have an idea of the company notoriety and the products notoriety;
b) To draw up the company’s image in the consumers’ mind;
c) The image of the product in the consumer’s mind, and then to go deeper:
To understand the users point of view on the products (assessment of the satisfaction of their needs) and
their expectations to improve the satisfaction of their needs. Bloggers can put forward new trends that
will allow the company to find new concepts.
By analyzing bloggers’ conversations, blogs becomes a tool for marketing services to get a foothold in the online
users’ intimacy.
To conclude this point, this tool enables marketing services to get a foothold in the online users intimacy without
soliciting them directly. By keeping a discrete watch on the blogs users, these services will be able to conserve
their technical and product competitive advantage.
2.3 Companies versus Web 2.0
2.3.1 from a “one-way” communication to a participative communication model
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The main change between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 is that communication is now a two-way communication. The
Internet users have the freedom to write articles, criticize and to upload files and videos online. Companies and
organisations no longer have the sole privilege to send messages. According to Peter Comley (2006)8 this
evolution is definitive. We are turning from a “Parent Child” relation to an “Adult Adult” conception of
Internet relations.
2.3.2 The end of “command and control” model
The risk of rumours
On the Internet there is no censorship. Nowadays, people like chatting, telling everything they see, hear, do, like,
dislike, think and more. Above all, bloggers want to express their “inner self”. Bloggers can write non-sense, and
it is tough to have power over them; finally this absence of control authorizes the best and the worst.
This notion of “freedom” is of course a big threat for companies; everyday, Internet endangers the companies’
reputation. The risk of webcasting uncontrolled information related to the company is becoming a continuous
fear for the communication department.
Once a rumour has been posted, within few hours the whole web is aware, and the damage has been done.
The luck to exploit this users’ loss of control
Letting your consumers talk, they will be able to show freely what they think and feel, without any barrier, no
censorship. The notion of time has to be examined because it explains partly why the Internet has become a
confessional for its users. Actually, as most of them take time, bloggers give opinions on products, news etc.
They deliver their true feeling because they are not in a hurry. This statement is a key point for us. However, one
problem is emerging: people can sometimes stretch the truth. In spite of this, there is little motivation to lie: what
could be the interest of writing untrue criticisms of a product? Even if someone gives a negative comment about
a product, which may have some truth in it and which is bad for a company’s image and reputation, the company
can still use it as an opportunity to enhance the product based on the feedback.
I would like to make a short parenthesis; in our modern and occidental society, we cannot lose our competitive
advantage. In my opinion, this competitive advantage should be quality. Consumers are not so easily duped,
even if you have the best communication plan, people will buy your product once but will not purchase it again
if its quality is poor.
Blog’s lies
If Internet information is sometimes uncontrollable, it is unlikely that consumers are lying because they are
willing to spend 10, 20, 30 minutes or more to write or to answer to a post. What would be the motivation? The
risk of lies in marketing study responses could be limited by using the blog user’s comments without their
knowledge. On a blog, people are more talkative than when they are answering online questionnaires for
8 Poynter, R and G, Lawrence (2008). Insight 2.0: Nouveaux medias, nouvelles règles, nouvelles vison approfondie. Revue Française du Marketing, N°218 – 3/5
15
instance, where the questions are strict and do not let people give their real feelings. In all cases, the difficulty
for the marketing department is to be able to differentiate the truth from the lie.
Robert Scoble, author of “Naked Conversations” gives his point of view on blogs in the Business Journal:
“Blogging is interactive, informal, peppered with misspellings, grammatical errors, and occasional forbidden
words. (…) Ands it’s already changing the face of the world”.9 “Bloggers see the world with no filter. They are
grass roots and have no corporate allegiances”.
Veronique Méot introduced her investigation by her few words, "Web Agoras give consumers the power to
speak on all subjects and also about brands. The newspaper investigated Direct Marketing in 2009 on Web 2.0
and the interaction of brands with this very special environment. David Weinberger warned in his Manifesto of
evidence in 1999 that "companies that do not realize their markets are now a networked person-to-person, really
involved in dialogue and therefore more intelligent, are missing their chance10.”
On the other hand, Professor Jim Heskett of Harvard Business School stresses that the emergence of the
"Consumer Generated Marketing (CGM), a new form of marketing represents more an evolution than a
revolution. Online communities will govern themselves in the manner of ecosystems by allowing its participants
to promote or otherwise destroy the goods or services produced by firms”11.
However, companies like Nestle and Coca-Cola in the food industry, show their determination to exploit the
phenomenon. Todd Marion, Director Relationship Marketing Interactive Nestle, said in an interview with iMedia
August 2005: "We're watching this closely. We consider some elements (of Consumer Generated Content) to
study how we could use them to help brands and to satisfy consumers." Indeed, we must not forget that if you
don't do it, one of your competitors probably will take the risk, if it allows the brand to obtain, monitor and
influence the information held by blogs.
2.4 Brands & the Internet
2.4.1 Brands progressively become aware of the limits of their control on the Internet
Internet users are customers. Based on this consideration, we can say that consumers are now part of the insight
2.0. What does that mean? Consumers are expecting from companies to be listened to; and to go even further,
they have the strong desire to be part of the business.12 Companies do not see anymore their consumer as a
passive actor but as a third-party, well determined to make his or her voice heard. Companies can no longer
ignore it; they start to take this new parameter into consideration.
9 White, S. (2007) To Blog Or Not To Blog - That Is The Question. Business Journal (Central New York); 8/24/2007, Vol. 21 Issue 34, p14-15, 2p 10 Méot V. (2010). Web 2.0 : Conversation, les marques s’invitent dans le débat, Décembre 2009 – Marketing Direct, janvier 2010, n°134 11 Marion T. (2005). Where is Consumer Generated Marketing Taking us? August 2005. The Harvard Business Review 12 Poynter, R and G, Lawrence (2008). Insight 2.0: Nouveaux medias, nouvelles règles, nouvelles vison approfondie. Revue Française du Marketing, N°218 – 3/5
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However this evolution takes time, indeed many companies do not understand how online communities are built
and do not know how to exploit them. As we said previously, the conversations, information found on blogs are
numerous and fruitful, but only few bloggers conversations can be effectively useful.
According to the media agency Carat, approximately 80% of user-generated content (UGC) on the web,
including comments and questions, is created by less than 10% of Internet users.13 In that case, why should
companies waste time and energy to send to a tiny minority of its prospects? Because they are the ones who
write the majority of opinions and advice online, and thus, they exert a very “strong power limitation” on their
readers. Consumers and / or users receive advice and relay information via community members.
2.4.2 They start to understand that their approach has to evolve
Many companies are eager to work with Internet users for the objective of saving money in their different
internal activities (marketing, sales etc.), however something curbs this willingness to make the online
consumers to be part of their strategy. Companies do not know how to use web tools and how they make the
difference.
Even if we see that it was quite complicated for companies to see in blogs analysis some convincing results in
the short term, they should look into blogs as a wonderful opportunity to keep being close to their consumers by
listening to their inspirations, dreams, interests etc.
Of course the most difficult step for companies is to make of its consumers trusted co-developers.
2.4.3 The trend of “co-creation” or “user-driven innovation”
To end up this theoretical part, it is fundamental to understand that companies have been trying for years to
benefit from the knowledge and from the consumer’s ideas in order to improve their innovation process.
Erik von Hippel is an expert in these questions. He worked closely with Stefan Thomke on the following topic:
“Customers as innovators – a new way to create value”. According to them, this is very difficult to fully identify
with customers needs: this is an inaccurate process. They define the product development as “a drawn-out
process of trial and error, often ping-ponging. (…) The customer then tries out the product, finds flaws and
request corrections.”14 Some companies are trying to give customers “the tools to design and develop their own
products”; blogs can be one of them. Indeed, through conversations customers give their opinion and can as well
find out new concepts or new applications for products.
However we cannot forget that this tool has some limits: industrial production may have constraints.
Manufacturers are generally aware of what can be realized and what is out of thinking for them. Customers can
have great ideas but not always in coherence with the brand’s values or strategy. To conclude for manufacturers,
this could be hard to implement bloggers’ ideas in their product development process. Especially in the beauty
13 http://blog.carat.fr/2009/01/communautes_en_ligne_que_le_sp.php 14 Von Hippel, E and Thomke S (2002). Customers as innovators. Harvard Business Review
17
and cosmetic industry because of the highly technical nature of the products; not everybody can proclaim to be
an industrial chemical. Nevertheless they can deal sometimes with minor modifications rather than major new
innovations.
18
III/ IN THE COSMETIC INDUSTRY,
BLOGS HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
In spite of its flaws, the blogs seem to be more and more appreciated by companies among the sources of
information driving the brands’ strategy. What are the parameters that make this tool a distinctive mean for
marketing department to improve the offer? And how blogs are they playing this role in the highly scalable
cosmetics?
In order to make this paper successful, this part has been made from observations on what does really happen on-
line and from brand strategies. The purpose of this empiric research was to obtain explanations to reach our
objectives; in order to get complete results a method has been drawn up before.
To make this research fruitful, firstly the sources had to be various. The questions asked were different according
to the entity interviewed. For instance, the opinion of a company specialized in the Internet monitoring was
essential to have a global view of the central matter. Two objectives were defined:
o Understand the means used in the blogosphere’s monitoring (technical aspect)
o Get experts’ opinion on this tool: does it really bring useful information to the company?
Different themes of research have been stated such as: the sectors concerned, the technologies used to collect
information and to analyze it, the utility of the results, the trustworthiness of information on blogs, and the
future: companies and blogs in the next decade.
It seemed interesting to have as well the opinion of an Internet expert specialized in cosmetics. The objective
was to understand the digital strategy and the link between « blogs, users and brands ». The themes tackled were
the presence of the brand on the Internet, their digital strategy and the marketing watch’s tools were used.
Finally, the reading of the professional press allowed me to follow-up what are the trends, to know what happens
inside the company, and to have an idea about how the information is treated. It was a good tool to identify the
companies using this technology, to get information on their previous actions and above all it gave ideas to
broaden the main question, and to enrich thinking.
The main ideas are sum up in this third part.
3.1 Focus on trends in the cosmetics industry
To give a quick view of what happens now on the beauty and cosmetics market, experts observe that brands tend
to adopt a more humanistic approach to beauty. The current trend is to "demonstrate a thorough knowledge of
consumers and an understanding of their expectations at all stages of life"15 says Françoise Hernaez-Fourrier,
Pôle Création Director TNS-MI. For brands it is more than ever the moment of listening their consumers; in
point of fact brands brought a significant attention to pedagogy and empathy, in order "to support women
throughout their desire16”.
15 La Revue des marques – n°66 – avril 2009, « La beauté, une idée profondément culturelle » page.23 16 La Revue des marques – n°66 – avril 2009, « La beauté, une idée profondément culturelle » page.23
19
F. Hernaez-Fourrier sums up in few words the market difficulties. The main supporters of the hallmarks of
beauty products at international level are related to profound changes in the consumer society: demographic
changes, challenges of an aging durable, impact of ethical reflection and transformation of industrial schemes
etc. "It is the sense that brands offer that leads them to be or not in step with the need for self-realization of
consumers, the real driver of this market.” Then if consumers are well placed to tell us what they expect from a
beauty cream, we can ask ourselves: do the companies use the blogs application to listen to what their customers
want to say on the brands?
It is undeniable that today Internet experts warn businesses that brands should listen to their consumers. Some
companies may lack enthusiasm and do not know how they can use this inexhaustible resource. The brands are
often afraid of being too intrusive and manipulative in the eyes of bloggers.
CosmétiqueMag published in July 2009 a file on the web 2.0 and more specifically on brands and blogs. Several
Internet marketing managers in leader companies already gave their vision and feeling about blogs as a tool to
communicate and to get information. Michel Gutsatz at Scriptorium: "they are wrong if they use blogs as an
additional media. Bloggers are not journalists. The most interesting brands use cleverly the web to better
understand their consumers, and to sometimes, associate them to their developments 17".
2.5 Marketing watch: from traditional marketing to the web 2.0 approach
Any kind of monitoring project should be part of a digital strategy; the company must define properly its
expectations before make a project start. Very often, the marketing department do not have sufficient IT
knowledge; Internet is only a tool as a consequence that they do not even try to understand the reality and the
techniques behind the Internet. The best way to be successful is to walk-in-line with a strong partner that will
aim to advice the company. This is fundamental to build up a team project to make things going right.
2.5.1 The social media monitoring industry
The American Jason Falls gives a great introduction to this market overview: “the social media monitoring
industry has been the single fastest-growing niche in the world of technology over the past three years. As more
companies engage in social media, participate in discussions and launch social media initiatives, the demand to
monitor what is being said and analyze that data is critical for companies to not only read and react, but also
found staff social initiatives”.18
It follows that we can ask ourselves how is this monitoring industry organized in France? Who are the main
actors and what are their core-competencies?
Sylvain Andrieu, Grapheos General Director is a digital identity and Internet specialist. In the interview held in
June, he gives us his point of view concerning the services proposed by the digital agencies:
17 Pascale Caussat Clerk (2009). Marques et blog – Attention les bloggeuses veillent, juillet aout 2009 – Cosmétiquemag, n°100 18 http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2010/02/24/exploring-social-media-monitoring-an-industry-survey/
20
“The use of agencies to monitor the digital identity may have two objectives: the first one is to monitor, collect
and analyze information about blogs. It can spread to the videos, social networks, news websites, reviews, etc.
The second is to act on their content. Several techniques are then used as fictional blogging, buying advertising
and information in blogs or highly specialized large audience, or even withdrawal of some items.
All these techniques are designed to encourage bloggers, who are often consumers themselves, but especially
prescribers, to write positively about the products or services of any company. Thus, it is not unusual for
influential bloggers to receive products for gifts, so they can test them and relay the information via their blog.
The aim is obviously to control, improve up their digital identity, and sometimes to avoid or minimize skidding,
very negative criticisms, and scandals over the Internet.
Which kinds of technologies are used to collect information and to analyze it (robot / human)?
“It is clear that these agencies have a certain number of tools, both software and web ware (online applications)
to monitor and analyze information from blogs in particular. However manpower is essential to relevant
analysis. A good criticism and synthesis are essential to analyze and interpret the information once it has been
harvested”.
Do you think the results are significant enough? Is it worthwhile for companies to spend money and time?
“Again, the Internet is a media now impossible to ignore. The test results are reliable, which is not the case of
articles or reviews. The use of a monitoring agency of digital identity is necessary because without it the
information and its impact on the blogosphere, and therefore on consumers could be properly assessed.
Regarding the budget and time allocated to this approach, they are much more limited study of a consumer or a
survey. Indeed, it generally costs less to get feedback about a product or service based on an analysis by an
agency rather than resorting to a consumer survey for example. On the other hand, the cost of such an operation
is also limited compared to the outstanding amounts a business risk when information / negative criticism
circulating on the net. Finally, it is more interesting to listen to what consumers / bloggers have to say
spontaneously, rather than asking an opinion, an opinion on this or that product or service”.
Concerning the organisation of this new segment, Arnaud Dassier, L’Enchanteur (The Marketingroup) General
Director analyzes it as follows “from one side there are scientists who are providing intelligence, tools for
reading and more or less formalized analysis. In the other “craftsmen” whose work is akin to public relations
applied to the blogosphere and the social web”.19
Concretely how does it work? Advertisers work along with communication/advertising and interactive agencies
that will help them to tailor a web strategy. This market is made of numerous entities:
- Agencies specialized in web 2.0: Human to Human, Heaven, Vanksen, E-walking etc.
- And sometimes, worldwide groups propose their services: Publicis Modem with Noise Tracker,
Mediametrie etc.
19 Alexandre Debouté, Les lieux d’expression à surveiller de près, 19th February 2009, Stratégies magazine
21
What are the web agencies core-competencies? Thanks to intelligence solution editors, they are firstly able to
analyse the online presence of their clients; this balance will be made before thinking and implementing the
strategy. The other objective for an agency is to measure the influence of a source.
Sometimes agencies appeal to specialised companies:
- Mapping of chat rooms (Linkinfluence –RTGI),
- Identification of the new behaviours on the Internet,
- Use of real time information solution (Trendy Buzz)
- Companies can buy out ad hoc studies on its online presence in order to adapt their action plan.
Two possibilities are proposed to the companies: between picking a timely or a continuously monitoring activity.
This is part of the “community management” and that requires a real substantive work. All this takes time and
labour.
Key figures about blogs20
2000 blogs (only female blogs) represent several million-page views per month.
30 bloggers represent one million page views per month.
120: number of beauty blogs listed on the platform lenuagedesfilles.com in June 2009
After having interviewed and analyzed the discourses of different agencies specialized in digital marketing, we
can say that they encourage companies to follow-up 3 steps: 1. Conversations, 2. Support, 3. Innovation.
Most of the time, agencies will implement the following strategy:
• Facilitate discussions on blogs and community platforms,
• Establish a permanent monitoring network,
• Identifying and interacting with opinion leaders and the nature of the issues.
2.5.1 Professional blogs should not be missed as a tool for brands’ communication
Here we are talking about professional bloggers, women whose the job is to write up articles on a topic. The
cosmetic companies now more and more appreciate them. Actually they are contacted in order to be associated
to the communication of the brand. These bloggers, far away from the ordinary bloggers bring a real added value
to the brand.
That is the reason why communication services cannot ignore them, so much so that they include them in each
new launch of product: cream, perfumes, make-up etc.
Some companies want bloggers to be brand ambassadors to test and to promote its products; they as well can
create clubs in order to consider new products. All the companies have more or less a real enthusiasm to use all
the abilities of blogs.
20 Réguer Capital Associates, "le nuage de filles"
22
For instance Lancaster created a website launched in August 2009 on the occasion of the launch of its new anti-
aging cream “Retinology”. Four bloggers have been testing the new cream. They could leave their comments
week after week on their blog but as well on the Lancaster website www.retinology-theproof.com
The ranking “Elle / wikio.fr” is updated every month, lists blogs about feminine topics (beauty, fashion reviews,
drawings, kitchen creations, mother, sex) most often mentioned by other blogs and online media. The influence
is calculated according to the number of links to these blogs. In the classification beauty, there is a high
proportion of blogs devoted to natural cosmetics.21
The role of the professional bloggers is crucial in the Internet communication strategy as demonstrated in the
study realized by the agency Isobar and the web site “aufeminin.com” in September 2009:
- “57% of women use the Web as primary source of information for purchases of personal care,
- And specialized blogs are considered reliable by more than 60% of women who visited. Word of mouth
is particularly popular in times of crisis." 22
TOP 20 of beauty blogs the most influential (June 2009)
Elle/Wikio.fr
1. Miss Lollipop
2. Gourmandise & Compagnie
3. By Reo
4. Only happy in the sun...
5. Sensation Nature
6. Trendy Mood
7. Mon blog de fille
8. Babillages
9. Les onguents de la Sassenach
10. Chroniques d'une blonde
11. Mon Coté Fille
12. Le blog de Tichat
13. Sange
14. Le Monde est à nous !
15. Au Temps pour Soi
16. Au pays des merveilles
17. Nin-8 Soaproach
21 http://www.elle.fr/elle/site/wikio/juin-2009/beaute 22 Pascale Caussat Clerk (2009). Marques et blog – Attention les bloggeuses veillent, juillet aout 2009 – Cosmétiquemag, n°100
23
18. © a Z Z e d
19. Céphée Natur'elles !
20. Parfum
2.5.2 Concrete examples
In this project, the help and coordination of an agency is needed, the company has to make an effort to adapt
itself. These last years, companies have changed their internal organisation, and we have assisted to the
emergence of new positions.
Translation into the reality - News from CosmeticMag23:
Lancôme is probably one of the most regular brands to observe and take into account the blogosphere.
In this publication the brand explains its view of blogs and globally its strategy on the Internet. "Our approach to
blogs allows us to have a relatively immediate feedback on the perception of a product or a choice of a muse, for
example.” Julie Thompson, VP Interactive Marketing and CRM Lancôme International.
In July 2010, the brand will launch a platform dedicated to make-up, “magnifique-women.com” with access
reserved for its professional make-up artists and the general public, where any blogger or user can post their own
testimonies. Julie Thompson remains skeptical: "The only subjects that are suitable are those where there are no
industrial constraints".
Yves Rocher: by the same token the French brand has associated with bloggers to its web site “Les
Végétaliseurs”, created by its employees to talk about ecology, a value belonging to the brand’s DNA. Bloggers
are invited to feed its “Végéterre” feature; the objective is to let bloggers talk freely without any kind of
sponsoring. Yves Rocher really pays attention to its neutrality on this platform.
Thierry Mugler: “Thierry Mugler Womanity” is a community platform launched in March, where Internet
users are invited to give their vision of femininity.
Emilie Depoux, the International Internet manager says: "we give ourselves the opportunity to develop a range
of users with the impetus that will be solicited for one contest. This concept allows companies to create a pool of
creative people who are also consumers and admirers”.
23 « Le crowdsourcing donne des idées aux marques » May 2010 p.50, CosmétiqueMag, n°108
24
CONCLUSION
Blogs can be seen as one of the symbols of the web 2.0: see-through and open to criticism, far away from
traditional marketing discourses. Companies should be interested in social media and should take advantage of
its opportunities. The purpose of this paper was to understand what kind of impact blogs could have on the
product development of cosmetic brands. From the fact that blogs have been adopted by millions of Internet
users these last ten years, we have tried to demonstrate that specialists and companies could no longer ignore this
phenomenon. The main objective was to prove that brands could add value to their product offer by using blogs.
If blogs can definitely help the company to measure its e-reputation, this single perspective of blogs monitoring
is not as much impacting in the cosmetic product development. This blogs monitoring has to be implemented in
a digital framework. It means the company is willing to be present on the Internet, to be both observer and an
active contributor.
The first reason that makes me conclude on this result is that consumers expect two things in a product: its
efficiency, and the pleasure and satisfaction it brings (sensorial aspects). From this point, the bloggers will not be
able to bring technological change, and their contribution will be then limited. Ordinary bloggers can be
interesting in minor modifications on products, as they can give their opinion on packaging, and for instance on
the sensorial aspects of the product. I’d go even further, they could help companies to find out new attitudes and
new behaviours. How consumers use the product? Bloggers can find out new ways of product application, as the
gestural is fundamental for these companies, and interest them greatly.
Some companies from many sectors are already trying to develop and to have an influence on online
communities. We have seen that professional bloggers are concrete examples of participation and co-creation.
This is fundamental for them to get closer to the customers, to understand their needs and to build up a strong
alliance with the Internet users who will after that, recommend their products. Many brands like Lancôme
understood the necessity to give bloggers first-class treatment, as they are real influencers on the web. People
read, people talk and people buy! Lancôme made an important work to identify the most influential female
individuals that were running blogs in France, before getting in contact with them and develop a relationship.
This kind of association must be based on the exchange, sharing and particularly on trust. Managers need to
identify the role of the Internet in their field of activity, and above all how much do customers rely on blogs
information.
The Internet applications and Social media will inevitably develop alternative forms of marketing and make
companies react in a different way. For this reason, companies have to be ready and prepare themselves in order
to react faster to any stimulus that would happen on the web.
25
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is partly supported by the Toulouse Business School; I thank my tutor Christophe BENAROYA
for his continuous advice and support.
Special thanks to Marine DE VILLEMANDY ([email protected]), founder of E-beauty, consultant in web
strategies for luxury and cosmetic brands, who kindly accepted to give me her opinion on this question.
Finally, Sylvain ANDRIEU (www.grapheos.com) has been as well a great help in this research; I thank him for
his relevant answers and his accessibility.
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Web sites:
http://www.elle.fr/elle/site/wikio/juin-2009/beaute
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2010/02/24/exploring-social-media-monitoring-an-industry-survey/
http://blog.carat.fr/2009/01/communautes_en_ligne_que_le_sp.php
Site web Réguer Capital Associates, "le nuage de filles"
